EBizInsider

Diversity. Remember that topic? It seems that all the buzz about diversity which seemed to appear in every business publication in the earlier part of the decade has quieted down a bit. Maybe that’s because most of the major corporations have jumped on the diversity bandwagon. With 98% of the Fortune 250 actively promoting their diversity on their websites and in their policies/trainings, diversity seems to pale next to whatever today’s sexier topic seems to be.

So the 500 biggest companies in America are on the right track. Great. Now, what about everybody else? Diversity is important to small business, too. There are a variety of things small business owners can do in the area of diversity. But, before we get too far into this – there are many definitions for diversity, so for this article let’s agree that we’re talking about groups of people who share a specific interest. Let’s also add a condition that the group we’re discussing has some degree of social liability. That means that another group could discriminate against them or exploit them. Agreed? Good.

Recruiting & Retaining Diverse Employees Recruitment: If you are actively seeking to attract a diverse workforce, your advertising should extend beyond traditional recruiting sources. You will want to branch out with your recruiting efforts into ethnic publications, community centers, colleges, church groups, and local career office apprenticeships, scholarships to target, employ, develop and grow both local and non-local applicant pools. Offer relocation assistance, this will help attract a larger audience. Advertisements should include a reference to being an equal opportunity employer.Retention: Educate and train your employees by promoting diversity. Have fun activities such as ethnic food and dress and custom days. Create staff bios with photos to showcase everyone’s diverse multi-cultural backgrounds. Conduct information sessions to educate your staff about strategic workforce plan and workforce diversity initiatives. Keep processes and policies consistent across teams so one person is never singled out. Encourage and facilitate team members to support and respect each other, accept differences and accept diversity. Be understanding of each other. If you create an environment in which people enjoy going to work, retention will never be a problem. By Ed Stanchak eds@ebizinsider.com

Diversity and Your Organization. Take a look at your organization and see where opportunities are to embrace diversity. Setting the culture of diversity has helped our company succeed. In fact, you could make the case that we were diverse before we were a company and that we became a company as a result of that diversity. Here are some ways to make your organization more diverse!

Get Management to Buy In. As with setting any precedent – it starts at the top. Your executive management needs to embrace diversity. Setting a strong diversity policy and a “zero-tolerance for intolerance” is an important step.

Encourage Employee Participation. Allow your team members to attend diversity events. If your company has enough employees, create a volunteer diversity council. It’s an important part of employee satisfaction. Even one day a year where each employee brings in an ethnic food to share is a step in the right direction.

Keep Diversity a Part of Your Marketing and Web Presence. Show your employees’ photos on your webpage, and include your diversity statement on your “about us” page.

Encourage Supplier Diversity. When possible, use minority-owned businesses to show your commitment to diversity outside your company, too.

Think Outside the Diversity Box. It is a fact that, in business, embracing diversity and inclusion provides advantages that increase your company’s competitiveness. When it comes to segmenting by market, many times you’re actually dealing with diversity. A good test for this is to ask the question, “Has the group I’m targeting been made fun of in a situation comedy or on a Late Night talk show?” I’ll explain.

For example, you’re probably not going to see ads for winterizing windows in this magazine. It’s not the correct market. On the other hand, you might expect to see an ad for optimizing Microsoft Windows. Why? eBiz Insider is using diversity targeting. eBiz Insider is tagged as the magazine for e-commerce professionals, therefore we know the majority of readers are power computer users. You could also make the assumption that many readers are self-proclaimed geeks, or are at the very least “geekier” than the general population.

Speaking of which, Geeks aren’t protected from discrimination under any federal or state laws and there are plenty of examples of geek exploitation out there. Think of the film “Revenge of the Nerds” or the sitcom character Steve Urkel. Are there jokes about geeks on “The Daily Show” or “The Tonight Show”?

Remember, Diversity is more than race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. It’s about differences and celebrating what defines our individuality.

Ways to Embrace Diversity
Create a “Diversity Statement” and include it in your employee manual.

Allow employees flexible dates for religious holidays.

Set a “Zero Tolerance for Intolerance” policy.

Sample Diversity Statement:

• ABC Inc. is committed to hiring and promoting the most qualified persons into available positions.
• ABC Inc. provides all applicants and employees with equal opportunity in recruitment, selection, appointment, promotion, training, delegation, discipline, and separation.
• ABC Inc. shall foster a work environment that is fair and impartial in all of its relations with all persons, regardless of race, color, religious creed, age, sex, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, AIDS or HIV status, veteran status, or non-job related disability.
• ABC Inc. shall make every effort to hire and promote minority groups and women and to involve them in every level of employment and decision-making.
• ABC Inc. will make reasonable accommodations to meet the special needs of qualified applicants or employees.
• ABC Inc. will not tolerate any type of harassment including sexual harassment and will take all steps necessary to prevent any and all harassment from occurring.
• ABC Inc. believes that the full benefits of diversity will come only when we adopt an attitude of inclusion. We must welcome every individual as a respected member of the team who contributions are critical to the success of our organization.

By: John Dawe
johnd@ebizinsider.com

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